Is New Twins Catcher Diego Cartaya the Heir Apparent to Christian Vazquez?

[Eric Blonigen]

Despite the offseason buzz surrounding potential trades involving the veteran catcher, he remains a member of the Twins. Could the team's newly-acquired former top prospect be his heir apparent? What would he have to do to make that possibility a reality?

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of William Parmeter

As recently as 2023, Diego Cartaya was seen as a can’t-miss prospect, heading the Dodgers’ prospect chart, and ranking 14th overall on MLB.com's top-100 prospect list. At the time, the scouting report compared him to Salvador Perez. MLB.com said of him: “Cartaya is built to hit for power with a quick right-handed stroke … his pop plays to all parts of the ballpark … while [he] has the ingredients to stand out on defense as well, that part of his game needs more polish. Though his arm strength earns well above-average grades … his receiving, framing, and blocking are works in progress.”

Fast-forward to 2025, and his skills have reversed, to an extent. His arm strength is still considered above-average, and he has a good pop time, but the rest of his defensive skills have taken a step forward, as well. His blocking, framing, and receiving have all improved to at least an acceptable place, and he’s considered to both call a good game and to have strong relationships with his pitching staff. Here’s the thing, though: his hitting has regressed a fair bit. Cartaya, for his first three minor-league seasons, hit great. Upon hitting the upper minors in 2023, however, pitchers challenged him with better off-speed stuff. His strikeout rate crept up, his walk rate dipped, and he was a below-average hitter for the first time in his career. 

Last season represented a minor rebound, as he spent the first half of the season repeating Double-A. He hit well enough to receive his first promotion to Triple-A, and his offense fell back off a cliff; he posted just a 60 wRC+. As we know, this inconsistency (and a stacked system) led to Cartaya dropping down the Dodgers' depth chart, being designated for assignment, and (eventually) being traded to the Twins.

It’s easy to dismiss minor trades as tinkering around the fringes of the 40-man roster, especially when the price tag is a low-minors prospect not on any lists. Often, that’s all it is. However, before you write Cartaya off due to some recent offensive woes, let’s be real here: defensive chops and calling a good game are about all you need from a backup catcher. Much of the time, being able to hit one’s weight as a backstop is an added bonus. Furthermore, the Twins aren’t exactly bursting at the seams with high-end catching prospects. Looking at their 2024 (non-)usage of Jair Camargo, there’s a clear need for a competent catcher in the upper minors who can step up to join the big-league club when the time is right.

For additional perspective, do you know what Christian Vázquez’s wRC+ was in 2024? It was 60—exactly the same as Cartaya's, albeit at a higher level of competition. Sold yet? If not, let’s look to some spring training quotes for guidance.

“He’s got a good mind and has been very open to everything we’ve thrown at him," said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli in a chat with reporters over the weekend. "He’s taken it in, and he looks like he’s making good adjustments.

"There’s a potential for well-roundedness with him, which is exciting, because you’re not relying on one thing to carry him."

So, it sounds as though he’s coachable, and he's motivated. We know he’s hit in the past. It seems as though his defense has come a long way over the past few seasons. To me, that sure sounds like a future major-league receiver. It probably won’t be this season (barring an injury), but it seems likely that he will take a step forward. If things break right, he will probably be on the Opening Day roster in 2026, replacing Vázquez. If he’s not, that’ll mean the Twins either made another, bigger trade for their catcher of the future, or overpaid on the free-agent market this offseason. My money is on them going the Cartaya route. How about you?

Now, let’s get truly optimistic. If he can find his form even a little bit, compared to the past couple of seasons, then he’s probably in the conversation to be the heir apparent to Ryan Jeffers, rather than to Vázquez. How realistic is that? Well, a few things will need to happen. First, in 2024, he swung and missed—a lot. He’s got solid game power when he connects, so one key will be to make more contact in the zone. Baseball America charted him as one of 30 global prospects facing make-or-break seasons, and identified that Cartaya's swing path is longer than would be ideal, given his bat speed. Perhaps there will be stance or swing adjustments he can make to improve the amount of contact he makes. Finally, Cartaya has shown good plate discipline throughout his career, walking 11.8% of the time last season. Could he improve this even a bit more? If so, he could be a true on-base machine, and that could be a path to value.

---

What do you think? Could Cartaya catch 70 games for the Twins in 2026?

Twins Daily’s own John Bonnes contributed to reporting live from spring training.

View full article

[ashbury]

He's hitless this spring.  I suppose that makes him Vazquez's heir apparent.

[jkcarew]

“…his offense fell back off a cliff; he posted just a 60 wRC+”

Doesn’t this PERFECTLY qualified him to be Vasquez’s heir apparent? What are we waiting for??

[Cory Engelhardt]

This would certainly be a fun development 

[rv78]

Once again we are led to believe that the Twins can FIX a player that another club couldn't. Hasn't worked in the past and my bet is it won't work this time either, But let's keep trying...... Maybe they'll be lucky that this guy is the one out of a thousand when it happens.

[Craig Arko]

For the moment. A lot can happen before next year. These days, it seems a lot can happen before next week.

[arby58]

12 minutes ago, rv78 said:

Once again we are led to believe that the Twins can FIX a player that another club couldn't. Hasn't worked in the past and my bet is it won't work this time either, But let's keep trying...... Maybe they'll be lucky that this guy is the one out of a thousand when it happens.

Willi Castro. Brock Stewart. Sonny Gray. Joe Ryan.

[thelanges5]

Love to see him succeed. We don’t have the catcher depth in the MiLB. 

[PatPfund]

So just how is Cartaya better than Camargo? (And FYI, any backup catcher's usage has been almost zero the last two years, because Jeffers and Vasquez have been available pretty much every game.)

Cartaya has been a serious dud offensively; Camargo's down-year 2024 in AAA is pretty much better than anything Cartaya has posted above A ball. (Jair also hit 21 AAA HRs in '23 including multiple grand slams.) Defensively Camargo threw out 30% of basestealers in AAA; Cartaya's combined AA/AAA stat was 16%.

Right now I'd rather have Camargo at the plate and Camargo behind the plate, and it isn't close. What will Cartaya have to do to catch 70 MLB games next year? Get better. A lot better.

[tony&rodney]

Cartaya looked pretty decent behind the plate in the couple of March outings thus far. At the plate is a different story. I guess if he can hit .222 Diego has a career ahead of him. Felt a little sorry for him because the umpire rung him up on a pitch 6 inches off the plate. Cartaya just looked him as if he had been betrayed and walked to the dugout.

[DocBauer]

I'm always willing to share my opinions, but even when I speak negatively about a player, I never pile on someone...especially a young kid...or get mean. But can we pump the brakes a bit on the excitement and praise of Cartaya?

Let's do a little comparison here between the 23yo Cartaya and the 25yo Camargo, also a former Dodger farmand. Cartaya was a top prospect because he had unpolished tools and a powerful bat and could hit. When he hit AA, he suddenly couldn't hit. On the other hand, Camargo was a strong armed catcher with some unpolished tools who didn't hit much, but he BEGAN to hit when he reached AA.

While they were 1yr different in age when they hit AA ball, let's look at the numbers.

CARTAYA: .189/ .278/ .379/ .656

CAMARGO: .239/ .306/ .472/ .778

BOTH displayed double digit HR power and 50 RBI. Let's look at their first seasons of AAA ball:

CARTAYA: .221/ .323/ .363/ .686

CAMARGO: .259/ .323/ .503/ .826

Camargo had 21 HR in AAA and 63 RBI. Cartaya had 11 HR and 52 RBI. Point of fact, Cartaya's numbers for AAA, as stated, are inflated as i presented them as a combined total as he spent almost half his 2024 season split between AA and AAA. His actual numbers at AAA were worse. A lot has been made about Camargo having a poor 2024 at AAA. But as poor as they might have been, a backslide from his 2023 production, let's compare both of their AAA numbers directly from last season:

CARTAYA: .208/ .293/ .350/ .643

CAMARGO: .212/ .290/ .403/ .693

Neither had a good year at AAA in 2024, coming in close to even, but with an edge towards Camargo.

Defensively, while CAUGHT STEALING is NOT the only way to compare defense for sure, Cartaya has a career CS% of 15% so far and Camargo is around 30%. 

Now, these 2 are 2yrs apart in age. But when each hit AA and AAA...and some of the previous numbers offered had some lower level splits included as I've pointed out...they were only ONE YEAR apart in age when they hit each level. So this isn't skewed to an older player. We're only talking ONE YEAR age separation.

Cartaya failed to HIT when he reached the upper levels, and Camargo BEGAN to hit when he hit the upper levels. And I don't know about improvements made in framing and game calling and the such, but Camargo seems to have at least as good of an arm, proven thus far in MILB career CS numbers.

I point out all of this NOT to say Camargo is the better prospect, or to say Cartaya can't find his bat again. (So could Camargo after a poor 2024). But the hype train on a former top prospect being a good, potential ML player should be tempered as there's a similar player who's been the Twins #3 catcher for a couple years now. 

So then why hasn't Camargo gotten a shot? That's a good question. For TWO YEARS the Twins haven't clocked a single game started behind the plate other than Jeffers and Vazquez. That's INCREDIBLE! I don't know that I've ever seen that before in all my years watching baseball. And when Vazquez was gone for a couple games in 2024...childbirth was the reason I believe, Jeffers started all games and Camargo got, I believe, ONE inning to say he got a chance to play. Good for him!

But Rocco, despite being a former player himself, seems adverse to throwing guys in to the fire. When Helman and Keirsey finally got a shot late last season, they didn't play much. When Martin made his 2024 debut, he was a PR for about a week before he got a chance to play. But if the Twins simply don't like Camargo and don't trust him, then why is he still on the 40 man and the probable #3 option still?

Again, I'm not bashing anyone, I'm just asking for some real, logical perspective here. And always looking to be fair, Cartaya has had some back issues recently. I THINK I remember Camargo fighting a minor injury that might have affected him somewhat last season as well. 

It would be a great story if a former top catching prospect suddenly got healthy, found his BAT again, improved his defense and game calling, and took "pop time" and arm strength and could suddenly throw runners out, and became a viable, quality backstop for the Twins. But MAYBE, a 25yo catcher with power and a good arm is already sitting around just waiting for a chance to prove that he could be a solid ML backstop?

Perspective is all I'm asking for.

The current FO hasn't ignored the CATCHER position, despite arguements to the contrary from others. It's why the Jason Castro signing was one of the first moves they made, along with drafting Jeffers early. It's also why Castro was added in a trade with the Dodgers a couple years ago. And why Vazquez was signed. They HAVE drafted catchers since then, but more as a "build a catcher" vs a top draft choice.

They might like Winkel behind the plate, but any signs of BAT life seemed to die in 2024. Cardenas and Cosetti are different as prospects...one more polished but needing to show more as a hitter, the other a hitter who needs defensive polish...but both hit a wall at AA in 2024. Anyone signed or drafted after that is at least a couple years away. I have SOME HOPE for Cardenas and Cosetti, but they need BIG 2025 seasons or they might not make it. Even still, they'd be at least a year away.

A FA signing or a trade for a young catcher next offseason will need to happen to replace Vazquez for 2026. But I grant the idea that a healthy Cartaya could be part of the mix IF his bat, his defense, and his throwing ALL improve over 2025. But then again, if the powerful and strong armed Camargo has a re-surgance with the bat he's shown before, options could change.

All I'm saying, yet again, is some perspective. 

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, ashbury said:

He's hitless this spring.  I suppose that makes him Vazquez's heir apparent.

Free Jair Camargo.

[ashbury]

2 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

Free Jair Camargo.

... "to a good home"?

[Doctor Wu]

10 hours ago, arby58 said:

Willi Castro. Brock Stewart. Sonny Gray. Joe Ryan.

I don't think any of those 4 players needing "fixing" when the Twins acquired them. Castro just needed a place to play, Stewart was injury prone (and still is), Gray was a solid veteran arm, and Ryan just a rookie. I'd love to think that the Twins sprinkled some pixie dust on them and turned them all into All-Stars, but I don't know for sure that coming to Minnesota truly "fixed" any of them. 

[mikelink45]

Hurry up spring - we are desperate for speculation.  Let's see some production before we start annointing.

[arby58]

23 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

I don't think any of those 4 players needing "fixing" when the Twins acquired them. Castro just needed a place to play, Stewart was injury prone (and still is), Gray was a solid veteran arm, and Ryan just a rookie. I'd love to think that the Twins sprinkled some pixie dust on them and turned them all into All-Stars, but I don't know for sure that coming to Minnesota truly "fixed" any of them. 

These sort of run the gamut of the types of players an organization can try to 'fix.' Gray was coming off probably his worst season, and his ERA dropped over a full run per game with the Twins - just a coincidence? Ryan was pretty much a one-pitch pitcher who hadn't been able to break out of the minors - that is not the pitcher he is now. Yes, Stewart was/is injury prone, but he was a reclamation project. If the Dodgers could see what he became in 2023, you really think they would have released him? 'Just needed a place to play' for Castro - he got as many or more plate appearances his last two years in Detroit as his first year in Minnesota. I guess they were all just luck.

[rv78]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

I don't think any of those 4 players needing "fixing" when the Twins acquired them. Castro just needed a place to play, Stewart was injury prone (and still is), Gray was a solid veteran arm, and Ryan just a rookie. I'd love to think that the Twins sprinkled some pixie dust on them and turned them all into All-Stars, but I don't know for sure that coming to Minnesota truly "fixed" any of them. 

True!

[Trov]

12 hours ago, rv78 said:

Once again we are led to believe that the Twins can FIX a player that another club couldn't. Hasn't worked in the past and my bet is it won't work this time either, But let's keep trying...... Maybe they'll be lucky that this guy is the one out of a thousand when it happens.

Every team does this.  We have had plenty ourselves we passed on that other teams unlocked.  Some even bounce around to several other teams first as well.  Look at Brent Rooker he is on his 4th team and finally had a breakout full year with a 5.6 bWAR last year at age 29.  Not like he will be some long term super star most likely but it took him a ton of time and several teams to have a great year.  We have had some come in ourselves that were cast offs from other teams that developed. 

No one is saying this guy will pan out but he is a low risk guy.  If we would have traded for him 2 years ago everyone on here would have been talking about how great he will be.  Maybe he adjusts and figures it out this year at the higher levels.  Maybe he will just become a defense guy, or be a career minor league guy. 

[rv78]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

These sort of run the gamut of the types of players an organization can try to 'fix.' Gray was coming off probably his worst season, and his ERA dropped over a full run per game with the Twins - just a coincidence? Ryan was pretty much a one-pitch pitcher who hadn't been able to break out of the minors - that is not the pitcher he is now. Yes, Stewart was/is injury prone, but he was a reclamation project. If the Dodgers could see what he became in 2023, you really think they would have released him? 'Just needed a place to play' for Castro - he got as many or more plate appearances his last two years in Detroit as his first year in Minnesota. I guess they were all just luck.

Gray had similar if not worse seasons in 2016 and 2018 as he did in 2021, the year before he came to the Twins. Yes he improved by a full run in ERA but it was hardly a FIX when he previously had good seasons in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2019. He didn't need fixing, he just needed a reset. Ryan had as good or even better stats in all of his college and minor league seasons than he does in the majors. Again, didn't need fixing. Stewart hasn't proven anything other than that he could throw 27 good innings in 2023, That's one season or should I say, half a season. That makes him no better than a Jorge Lopez and we all know how that turned out. As for Castro, he isn't better now with the Twins than he was with the Tigers. In his 4 years with the Tigers he hit .272 overall. With the Twins he's hit .251. Has he really been fixed or maybe overused would be a better term..  

[arby58]

9 minutes ago, rv78 said:

As for Castro, he isn't better now with the Twins than he was with the Tigers. In his 4 years with the Tigers he hit .272 overall. With the Twins he's hit .251. Has he really been fixed or maybe overused would be a better term..  

Not sure where you are getting the BA numbers from - Baseball Reference disagrees. Besides, BA is a poor statistic for overall value. Look at his WAR - barely above zero in his years with the Tigers (there is a reason they released him), and much better with the Twins.

[Major League Ready]

I think there is at least a 50/50 chance Vazquez's replacement will be another 7-10M/year free agent.  It would be great if we could find a trade deal for a promising catcher but the odds of that are pretty low.

[TwinsDr2021]

10 minutes ago, arby58 said:

Not sure where you are getting the BA numbers from - Baseball Reference disagrees. Besides, BA is a poor statistic for overall value. Look at his WAR - barely above zero in his years with the Tigers (there is a reason they released him), and much better with the Twins.

The released Castro because they didn't want to pay a utility player in a rebuild, IMO they were hoping he would be a long term SS(only played there in 19 and 2), in 21 they tried him at 2B, SS, LF and DH and was horrible. In 22 they played him everywhere and he was better, but rebuilding teams don't need to pay utility players.

His time with the Twins (10 million dollars including this year) he has been a really good utility player but is exposed when given a full time position, also IMO anybody thinking he is good enough to be anything more than a super utility player will be disappointed. Reminds me when every opportunist Twins fan thought Nick Punto was good enough to be a full-time starter.

[jorgenswest]

Camargo and Cartaya are on a different part of their age path but both were signed by the Dodgers as international free agents at 16. The path to useful catcher in the major leagues is often a long one and the rule 5/option clocks can run out on teams. Let’s hope the Twins can benefit from that clock running out on the Dodgers.

Cartaya needs a long stretch if not a full season of AAA in development. Camargo is ready to help right now and is probably at least the median third catcher. The Twins are wise to devote a 40 man spot to Cartaya to see if he can approach that ceiling projected when he was a 20 year old succeeding in High A. His .354 OBP as a 22 year old catcher in AA gives me some hope.

I am glad both are Twins.

[Doctor Gast]

I pretty much gave up on Cartaya in '23. If LAD, who have produced a few top catchers in recent history, gave up on him, what makes the Twins think that they can miraculously transform Cartaya into a very good defensive MLB catcher, to replace Vazquez? Since Tanner Swanson I haven't seen any noticeable development our catchers. I had great hope in Olivar, a very good hitting catcher who had the tools to be a very good defensive catcher. Now he's not even expected to stick at catcher. When Vazquez was settled in BOS, he was a good hitter. Understandably, Vazquez had a bad year in his 1st year focusing on getting to know the pitchers & adapting to a new team, his 2nd year he improved & now his 3rd year I'm expecting a better hitter & that should be a better bench mark to compare. 

Cartaya is a catcher, he's not converted from another position or moonlight another position. I am hopeful from his recent improvement in his defensive skills & hope he can maintain what he learned in LAD & pick up on some stuff from Vazquez. LAD knows Cartaya better than anybody, & I'm sure they have been working on his hitting especially the last couple of years. I don't think that the Twins will find that magical key to unlock his hitting problems over night or even before Vazquez leaves. How Cartaya has progressed in the upper MiLB tells me he'll also have some difficulty adjusting to MLB.

We need to look at the whole picture. I have my doubts if Cartaya will be ready to viabally replace Vazquez defensively, offensively & especially stamina. Jeffers lacks the stamina to maintain his production at equal tandem duties so Cartaya has to really step it up. So I say the Twins need to look for a promising MLB-ready catcher to be groomed to takeover for Vazquez. Plus it won't be a slam dunk that the Twins can afford a Jeffers extension. So they may need a Jeffers replacement.

Will Cartaya become a MLB catcher? I say yes but it's hard to say when or how far. IMO Camargo could be MLB-ready before Cartaya.

[arby58]

3 hours ago, Trov said:

Every team does this.  We have had plenty ourselves we passed on that other teams unlocked.  Some even bounce around to several other teams first as well.  Look at Brent Rooker he is on his 4th team and finally had a breakout full year with a 5.6 bWAR last year at age 29.  Not like he will be some long term super star most likely but it took him a ton of time and several teams to have a great year.  We have had some come in ourselves that were cast offs from other teams that developed. 

No one is saying this guy will pan out but he is a low risk guy.  If we would have traded for him 2 years ago everyone on here would have been talking about how great he will be.  Maybe he adjusts and figures it out this year at the higher levels.  Maybe he will just become a defense guy, or be a career minor league guy. 

Yeah, besides Rooker, Liam Hendricks is another player who was given ample opportunity (by multiple teams) and then suddenly became a very good relief pitcher.

[sweetmusicviola16]

I find Cartaya intriguing. Otherwise I have no thoughts of him beyond hopeful. I see no issue in taking a good long look at him in St.Paul in 2025. He certainly doesn't appear to be blocking anyone further along by spending the season in AAA.

[Fatbat]

We should fully expect Cartaya to be an allstar by 2028.  All he has to do is learn to hit MLB pitching. No big deal….

[olerud]

All solid points,  great article!

[bean5302]

8 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

... IMO Camargo could be MLB-ready before Cartaya.

Camargo was also an LAD product, except he's at the same level as Cartaya despite being 2 years older.

[Riverbrian]

1. Christian Vazquez produced an OPS of .575 last year in 2024. 

2. Jair Camargo was up with the big club for around 20 games in 2024. Despite Vazquez and his .575 OPS. Camargo only had 7 plate appearances stretched out over 5 game appearances. Camargo was asked to just sit there quietly and observe the guy making 10 million this year produce an OPS of .575. 

3. Camargo was called up three separate times April, July and September to sit and watch Vazquez produce that .575 with no game action and he is still on the 40 man roster.   

4. This is the last year of the Vazquez contract. If someone doesn't rise from the farm to play catcher in 2026. The Twins will be spending millions on a Vazquez doppelganger. The front office... Everyone will be a little more comfortable committing to a catcher in 2026 if they at least show something in 2025. 

5. I don't care who the new owner is... the budget isn't going to explode over 200 million because the new owner feels like it. We will have a budget in 2026 and beyond. Any thought that the Twins are just going to go get JT Realmuto with the new owner's checkbook is extremely optimistic. If the Twins do sign JT Realmuto next year will there be any more free agent honeymoon dollars from the new owner left to spend? 

The TWINS HAVE TO DO SOMETHING in regards to catcher development and the clock is ticking with Vazquez soon gone... the names change year to year and this need development need is constant at every position but that clock is always ticking.

If neither Cartaya or Camargo fail to rise up this year. If the Twins do not provide the opportunity for either of them to rise up. The Twins will be right back at the free agent table spending millions to land a sub par veteran catcher at over inflated catcher prices for next season and the millions spent on the Vazquez replacement could be combined with other available dollars to upgrade any where on the 26 man roster next year. On players that will play over 100 games a year. 

Develop or Die. 

Bottom Line: The Cartaya dice roll had to happen because something has to happen. Roll those bones. Come On 7